Sector Spotlight: Events

Is this high pressure high reward business for you?

The event planning and management business has become increasingly profitable over the years as the industry has grown. There are several tiers to the businesses from small, private events to huge corporate events with million-dollar budgets.

The growing industry, however, also means that there is a lot more competition and it is more important than ever for people to carve out a niche in the market. Creating a specific brand for your company and making certain types of events your speciality is a good way to do this.

A trend in the corporate events sector in 2018 will be to focus on the emotional needs of participants as well as professional developments.

Overview of the industry

The events industry is one that encompasses many different areas. An event planner will oversee the entire process of the event: the prior arrangements, organisation at the actual event as well as the dismantling and returning of hired goods after the event.

An events business must aim to create and execute the idea or concept of the client. In order to do this, you need a careful mixture of creativity and technical skills.

Challenges

This can be an exciting industry to work in and there are many people who thrive under the pressure of organising events but there are also a lot of challenges to entering this industry.

Competition is rife when it comes to the events business. Building a network of clients can take a long time and you will have to work extra hard in the beginning in order to gain trust and set yourself apart from the other businesses.

Your network of suppliers will be as important as your clients if you want to deliver.

There are also the challenges that are specific to the job like dealing with challenging customers and managing budgets. It can be especially difficult to deal with rises in the cost of items once you have already quoted a particular price to a client.

You will also be judged on the event itself even if the budget restrictions that you have been given have made it difficult for you to produce something that you would like to be judged on (a successful event will also mean that the event is to the clients’ specification, not your own!)

Essential skills

This industry is not one that follows the normal nine to five office hours. Going into this business, you will need to thrive under pressure and be ok with working long hours.

You have to be an incredibly organised person to be successful in this business. Successful events rely on the small details.

It is not enough, though, to be organised. You will also need to be able to think on your feet and come up with solutions on the spot.

Most importantly, you will need to make sure that at every step of the way your customer is happy, and this can be the most difficult part of the job as ideas and budgets often clash.

Buying an events business

If you have identified yourself as having the skills that are required to be successful in the events industry, then you may be looking to buy a business so that you can jump into the industry in a more secure way than trying to start from scratch in this competitive market.

It can be a great business to buy as you can keep your overheads low by working from home especially because you will be doing a lot of your business onsite.

Keep focused on who your target market is and how you are going to appeal to them. Make sure that your network and much as possible so that you can keep generating new leads.

About the author

Anthea Taylor is Content Producer at Dynamis and writes for all titles in the Dynamis stable including BusinessesForSale.com, FranchiseSales.com and PropertySales.com as well as other industry publications.

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